The OCO-2 satellite, which utilizes technology from Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Orbital Sciences Corporation in Virgina, hitched a ride aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket at 2:56 a.m.

From above the planet for about two years, the phone booth-sized spacecraft will locate where Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas, is sourced and stored.

The proper data could sway lawmakers’ and scientists’ decisions to take the necessary steps regarding climate change.

“This mission is going to deliver so much information, and I can’t wait to work with the scientists and be able to complete that aspect of the mission,” said Ralph Basilio, OCO-2 project manager from JPL.

A viewing area of the launch was set up from a safe distance across the isolated Vandenberg Air Force Base on the rural Central Coast. However, thick fog kept the rocket and satellite invisible.

But it wasn’t enough to delay the launch, as the weather briefing gave the go-ahead for lift-off before continuing with the seven minutes left on the countdown. When the rocket did finally lift-off, the foggy horizon glowed pink, and the unmistakable roar of a rocket could be heard, eventually growing fainter from above.

About 56 minutes after launching, the observatory separated from the rocket and began its initial 429-mile orbit. The spacecraft then performed activation procedures, established communication with ground control and unfurled a twin set of 30-foot solar arrays.

“I am happy to report that, from an initial health check perspective of the observatory, that we do indeed have a healthy observatory,” Basilio said.

For the next 10 days, OCO-2 will complete a checkout process before taking three weeks to move it to its final 438-mile, near-polar orbit to obtain readings of the atmosphere and how the Earth “breathes.”

In 45 days, OCO-2 will begin its science operations. Scientists will begin archiving the satellite’s data in about six months, and release their first initial estimates early next year.

But already, the spacecraft is leaps and bounds better than the doomed OCO mission from 2009.

A Taurus rocket attempted to carry the OCO, but the nose cone did not detach. The added weight caused the rocket and satellite to crash somewhere near Antarctica. The loss carried a $275 million price tag for NASA.

NASA agreed to fund the OCO-2 as long as it was a “carbon copy” of the original satellite, but aboard a more reliable rocket.

“In those days, I was in the control center, and was one of those people to recognize how badly we all felt,” said Mike Miller, vice president of Science and Technology Spacecraft Programs in Orbital’s Space Systems Group. “Certainly in Orbital, we felt awful about the situation, but those of us who were working on the spacecraft were truly devastated after putting in many years of our lives.”

Though any rocket launch can cause anxiety among its crew, the past rocket failure and Tuesday’s scrubbed launch fueled the anxiety.

“Something as simple as the watering turning on ended up not being so simple. Today, we applauded when the water went across,” said Geoff Yoder, NASA deputy associate administrator. “You’re holding your breath, feeling your heart beat go up more and more. Every mission is really thrilling because you know the key steps.”

But with OCO-2 now in space, and by all accounts ready to perform its duties, that fret during the launch is now excitement for the future of earth sciences.

“Climate change is the challenge of our generation,” NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a written statement. “With OCO-2 and our existing fleet of satellites, NASA is uniquely qualified to take on the challenge of documenting and understanding these changes, predicting the ramifications, and sharing information about these changes for the benefit of society.”

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